Branding is essential for a business success although it may be difficult to decide what branding strategy to use. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the concept of branding, and more explicitly the strategies of umbrella branding and brand extensions and how it relates to value, in practice. A case study of an ice cream company, SIA Glass, was conducted to answer the research question of how SIA Glass’ branding strategy affect its’ brands. The method used was based on a deductive approach with semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that SIA Glass’ decision to offer a more diverse brand portfolio created problems in its’ internal communication and the focus was lost on brands less prioritized. Instead of focusing on the SIA Glass brand, the company wanted to connect SIA Glass to its’ corporate heritage and the Bertegruppen group, and offer products in new segments with less connection to the SIA Glass brand. Conclusions from the study imply that it is difficult for a company with limited resources to have an extended brand portfolio. In addition, as brand value is co-created with consumers and customers it demand more emphasis in practice, as well as in branding research.

Title                                 Shape me up! – A study of how leaders in the Swedish financial sector can use their personal brand to shape the corporate brand Course                             Master Thesis (60 credits) in Business Administration; Strategic Management and Leadership, International Marketing Authors                           Amanda Elg and My Engdahl Supervisors                      Maya Hoveskog and Ingemar Wictor Keywords                        Leadership, personal brand, corporate brand Problem formulation       ”How can a leader in the Swedish financial sector use the personal brand to shape the corporate brand?” Purpose                            The aim of this study is to describe the importance of the leader’s personal brand within the Swedish financial sector. Further, this study aims to explore how the personal brand of a leader can contribute to shape the corporate brand from an internal perspective, in aspects such as organisational culture and visions. This study focuses mainly on the positive aspects of the personal brand since we are more interested to see the positive outcomes of personal branding than the negative ones.  Target Group                   Our study is directed towards a target audience of Swedish leaders and other interested parties that want to increase the understanding for personal and corporate branding, and to increase the understanding of how leaders can use the personal brand to shape the corporate brand. Theoretical framework    We have mainly focused on two different theories; one for personal branding and one for corporate branding. Methodology                   This study is based on a qualitative, deductive approach, with a case strategy. The empirical data is collected through personal interviews. Result                              We have come to the conclusion that the most important thing to be able to shape the corporate brand is to align your vision and values with the vision of the company. To be able to use your personal brand, you need to know who you are and what you hold to be true. We have also come to the conclusion that in what extent the leader can use the personal brand to shape the corporate brand will be dependent of different positions and different companies. However, we believe that leaders within every sector have more or less ability to use their personal brand to shape the corporate brand.

Can Internet search query data be a relevant predictor of financial measures of brand value? Can Internet search query data enrich existing financial measures of brand valuation tools and provide more timely insights to brand managers? Along with the financial based motivation to estimate the value of a brand for accounting purposes, marketers desire to show “accountability” of marketing activity and respond to the customer’s perception of the brand quickly to maintain their competitive advantage and value. The usefulness of the “consumer information processing” framework for brand, consumer and firm forecasting is examined. To develop our hypotheses, we draw from the growing body of work relating web searches to real world outcomes, to determine if a search query for a brand is causal to, and potentially predictive of brand, consumer and firm value. The contribution to current literature is that search queries can predict perception, whereas previous research in this nascent area predicted behavior and events. In this direction, we propose arguments underpinning this research as follows: the theoretical background relative to brand valuation and the theoretical frame based on an in-depth review of how scholars have used search query data as a predictive measure across several disciplines including economics and the health sciences. From a practitioner perspective, unlike traditional valuation methods search query data for brands is more timely, actionable, and inclusive.

Sensory marketing An effective instrument for libraries?   We are living in a world of constant communication and information and because of that, marketing in general seem to have no distinctive effect. Consumers become overwhelmed by all the advertising messages. Due to this, it is clear that organizations like libraries must create a deeper and more personal connection to increase user satisfaction and foster the use of services, among both users and potential users. One way to achieve this is to make use of all the emotional elements of a product or a service. This make the user perceive the service more as an experience instead of just its functioning. By putting the five senses in focus it´s possible to create an experience and with integration of all five senses more value can be added. Previous studies on this subject are rather thin and therefore the authors found it interesting to investigate whether this phenomenon could be an effective approach for libraries.The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate how a number of selected libraries are working with stimulation through the five human senses in their marketing. The study consists of a qualitative approach. Four personal interviews with informants from four libraries have been conducted. The conclusion of this study is that the library does not work with sensory marketing, but for some of the library's activity, sensory marketing could further develop the activities and create a greater value for both the visitors and the libraries. There are some difficulties though, when sensory experience is somewhat subjective and the library is a place for everyone.

Title: Who are they: a study about Communication of brand personality by business schools inan online environmentCourse: 4FE02E, Master Programme Degree Thesis, 15 ECTSAuthors: Arber TahiriSamira YoukhannaTutor: Dr. Rana MostaghelExaminer: Dr. Sarah PhilipsonIntroduction: MBA programs have increased from having 3200 awarded degrees during the50‟s to 1695 business schools offering different types of MBA. Researchers claim that thegrowth of MBA programs may have changed human perception of the offered program, thatMBAs have gone from being a first class ticket to a successful career to a more accommodatedservice. Brand and brand personality is another discussed aspect. Researchers suggest thatorganizations should implement more strategic communication based on brand personality, ontheir websites to attract a large audience and clearly communicate what and who they are as anorganization.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the brand personality communication ofEuropean business schools MBA Programs in an online environment.Methodology: The study includes a comparative study were a correspondence analysis wasconducted. Aakers (1997) model of brand personality dimension was used as an inspirationaltool and randomly selected two samples; Cluster one, consisting of five Top European businessschools according to Financial Times, and Cluster two, five general European schools.Conclusion: According to findings, there are some areas such as the usage of Aaker‟s brandpersonality dimensions and their synonyms that are different between top ranked Europeanbusiness schools and other business schools in Europe. Also, top European business schoolsappear not to be closely associated to Aaker‟s brand personality traits whilst other Europeanschools are closely knitted and communicated clear brand personality dimensions.

This thesis was carried out during Spring semester 2012 at Södertörn University in collaboration with the Swedish distance selling company Halens. Halens is one of Sweden’s leading e-commerce companies with a significant history in distance selling. The company started as a mail-order company but their current and future goals are directed towards full e-commercialization. Halens has expanded to several international markets and their assortment consists mainly of women’s apparel, but also includes men’s wear, children’s wear and electronics. The purpose of this thesis is to find ways to improve the image of traditional mail-order companies that are going through a transition towards e-commerce. It has a specific look on branding and brand repositioning and the aim is to give suggestions on how to improve the image and attracting new customers while maintaining the loyal customer base that companies have gained. This includes identifying the pros and cons of the companies’ current position as well as viewing the modern possibilities that e-commercialization brings. Four interviews were conducted in order to obtain up-to-date information. Two of the people who were interviewed are employees at Halens whose work is closely related to the subject of this thesis. The data that was obtained from them deals with the company’s current activities and goals in terms of repositioning their brand. Another viewpoint is met with two consumer interviews, where information is received from different attitudes towards Halens. One of the interviewed is a long-time Halens customer, while the second one has never purchased from Halens. In addition, our own observations have been conducted for deeper analysis of the study. As one of us is a Halens employee it has given us direct access to collect data about the company image and compare our perceptions with one another. A clear view of the brand repositioning requirements that have appeared with the transition towards e-commerce has been established during this essay. Results have shown an apparent need for modernizing and investing in renewal of brand image as a mail-order company moving in to online marketing.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to do a brand survey of Metro in Karlstad. The study will originate from the terms ”brand identity” and ”brand associations”, where the brand identity is the organization’s desired view of the brand, and the brand associations define the associations held by the consumers. Issues: What is Metro’s brand identity? What are the brand associsations of Metro in Karlstad? How well do the brand identity and the brand associations correspond? Theoretical framework: The study is done from the perspective of media and communication studies, where the theoretical terms are defined from literature regarding brands. Method: The study is carried out using a qualitative document analysis, interviews, and a quantitative survey. The document analysis was made on Metro’s own documents regarding values and target audience. The interviews were carried out with three interviewees from the organization of Metro. The survey was made as a group survey with 200 respondents where eight were removed as they did not qualify for the target audience. Results: The qualitative studies showed that the brand identity towards Metro’s readers is simple. Metro’s desire is that the the newspaper is seen as free, accessible, and that it summarizes the news. The survey showed that the readers of Metro in Karlstad choose Metro because it is free and accessible. They also gave Metro a good grade regarding summarizing of news. Conclusions: Metro keeps their brand identity towards readers simple, as the brand awareness is high and thereby don’t need a complex brand identity. The readers choose Metro because it’s free and accessible, and also think that Metro summarizes the news well. This is exactly what Metro wants to accomplish, and do so by keeping the brand identity simple. The correspondence between brand identity and brand associations is strong, and thereby contributes to a strong brand for Metro. Keywords: Metro, free newspaper, brand survey, brand identity, brand associations, brand, customer perceived value, brand positioning, brand equity, brand awareness. / Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att göra en varumärkesundersökning på gratistidningen Metro i Karlstad. Undersökningen sker utifrån profil och image, där profilen är ledningens syn på hur varumärket ska se ut och imagen hur publiken uppfattar varumärket. Frågeställningar: Hur ser profilen ut för Metro? Hur ser imagen ut för Metro i Karlstad? Hur väl stämmer profil och image överens? Teoretiskt ramverk: Undersökningen genomförs ur ett medie- och kommunikationsvetenskapligt perspektiv, där begreppen profil och image definieras utifrån litteratur om varumärken. Metod: Undersökningen har genomförts genom en kvalitativ dokumentanalys, samtalsintervjuer samt en kvantitativ enkätundersökning. Dokumentanalysen gjordes på Metros egna dokument rörande värderingar och målgrupp. Intervjuerna skedde med tre respondenter från Metros organisation. Enkätundersökningen genomfördes som en typ av gruppenkät med 200 respondenter där åtta plockades bort på grund av att de inte tillhörde målgruppen. Resultat: De kvalitativa undersökningarna visade att Metro har en enkel profil mot sina läsare. De vill att tidningen ska ses som gratis, lättillgänglig och nyhetssammanfattande. Enkätundersökningen visade att Metros läsare i Karlstad väljer tidningen för att den är gratis och lättillgänglig. Läsarna gav också ett bra betyg gällande nyhetssammanfattandet. Slutsatser: Metro håller profilen mot läsare enkel, då de har en hög varumärkeskännedom och inte behöver någon komplex profil. Läsarna väljer Metro för att den är just gratis och lättillgänglig och tycker även att tidningen sammanfattar nyheter bra. Detta är just det Metro vill åstadkomma och gör det genom att hålla profilen enkel. Överensstämmelsen mellan profil och image är därför stark och bidrar till ett starkt varumärke för Metro. Nyckelord: Metro, gratistidning, varumärkesundersökning, profil, image, varumärke, customer perceived value, positionering, brand equity, varumärkeskännedom.

A study on city brand perception and indicators construction in Penghu area Abstract Penghu governance are far more long record in the Annals of Penghu's local governance at all have different meanings and objectives. With the trend of globalization, city competitiveness has become the most important core indicators for the city managers. The competitiveness of the city not only represents a more encompassing hardware construction of the urban cultural literacy but the Government efficiency and other software elements as well. Penghu regional development, as has long been a lack of effective cooperation in the overall experience of planning and resources, so the city into the concept of brand management innovation, will help form a common goal, and public-private partnerships to attract participants and created urban vision, development out with the local characteristic culture of life, and better quality of residents' life. Effective administrative and public services are the main goal and function the government has to achieve. government's effectiveness and go hand in hand with city management .The changing world has pushed city to adapt globalization and provide multiple functions and services.Also local residents, foreign tourists and investors to live with the memory and perceptual image synonymous with unique, high quality business successful cities exhibit a variety of specific images, not only create a sense of honor residents, but also attract more new immigrants and investment companies stationed, as well as foreign tourists visiting the important factor. Los Angeles School Master Deere (Micheal Dear) proposed "urban planning is political", how to integrate inside and outside the city shape the characteristics of the natural advantages, while reducing the negative adjustment of urban disadvantage, is an important city managers and residents of a public affairs. Will be treated as urban management products for enterprise management products and services is the current trends, the brand meaning into public management, may activate the city's image as urban governance, upgrade to a higher level goals. In this study, the overall administrative area Penghu area Sannai city brand evaluation literature to distinguish between people, cultural heritage, investment immigration, government administration, customer services, tourism and other major aspects of six sub-order analysis, for Penghu city brand Perceptions of 330 dollars to complete the statistical dimensions of urban perception of the advantages of sequence spaces and the conditions of resource data to construct its own brand of local indicators of check systems. Style which contains elements of the environment, social and human elements of the three major projects and economic activities total 99 indicators, urban governance as a self-evaluation. Quantitative survey research data to analyze the implementation steps of city branding, verify assumptions and the proposed method. Provide local public affairs manager and the formation of urban development, public issues, as a reference value of academic research, and looks forward to the overall development of some local significance.

The aims of this research investigate and discuss the possibility of how a local government can construct city image by organizing local festivals with its marketing campaign. In generally, most of festivals and events can inject economic revenues and build up the city images upon branding marketing. Basically, the local government remains the main authority to coordinate the festival promotion and marketing, but festival branding and marketing even meet many challenges and struggles. Significantly, many of phenomena in Taiwan tourism markets presented those current festivals facing many potential problems and unpredictable impacts with respect to festival management and sustainability. However, these problems and dilemma including local government please tourists, lack of culture protection, demolishing local specialty and lack of innovation as well as the purposes of this festival. Wan-Nien Festival was chosen as the case study of this research since Wan-Nien Festival has exhibited for more than ten years to be the most popular and historical event of Taiwan official festivals as a result of its amazing campaign and diverse contents. Due to its entirely empirical characteristics and comparing with other short-lifecycle festivals in Taiwan tourism market, Wan-Nien Festival has been already authorized by Taiwan Tourism Bureau to call for the 2010 main folk festival t. On the contrary, a number of festival managements might face the end situation due to the limitation of budgets even though those festivals have already experienced and accumulated high popularity and reputation such as Yilan International Children¡¦s Folklore ¡® Folkgame Festival. Similarly, Wan-Nien Festival might face the same challenge and difficulty for its sustainability without money injection. In contrast, many famous festivals and events are still in the process and development, such as Edinburgh International Festival which has been held for more than sixty years (from 1947). However, these famous festivals still attract many tourists all over the world as a result of their marvellous activities and they also turn into highly-acceptations festivals by the branding marketing. According to the argument of above description, the purpose of this research intends to discuss the possibility of Wan-Nien Festival branding-building and branding management. The methodology of this research can be divided into three perspectives. First of all, Three outstanding international festival, Edingburgh International Festival, Qingdao International Beer Festival, and Yilan International Children¡¦s Folklore and Folkgame Festival will beanalysed, induced, and compared the significant key factors and impacts to result in the success of these festivals. Secondly, referring to the branding management, research strategy adopt semi-construct interview to ask eleven relative stakeholders such as governors involved in holding festival, representative from Wan-Nien Festival local committee, village wardens, scholars specialize in festival marketing and tourism and business representatives. This research method tries to build up complete theory in the base of grounded theory and utilize the Atlas.ti 5.6.3 software to integrate and collect these interview data. The main research process is to record all correspondents interview conversations by the step to open coding, family coding, illustrating network diagram and finally constructing research theory. Due to the deep interviews with 11 relative stakeholders who might directly or indirectly participate in Wan-Nien Festival marketing and branding, this dissertation illustrated several significant discoveries and valuable information. These results demonstrate that there are numbers of key factors of a success festival such as well-using of the local resource, festival organizing and support with more assistance from a local government, and integrating local community agreement. The research results also recapitulate that local participators involvement seem main power to drive the local feature and shape the festival organization. In addition, the main attraction to identify the difference of marketing branding and marketing position is to plan the local stories.

Sponsored activities can conduct an effective communication channel between the enterprise and its targeted customers, and among all kind of sponsored activities, sports sponsorship is the most popular one. Enterprise always hope to successfully lift up the brand¡¦s awareness and image all over the world by sponsoring a big sport event. However, whether the enterprise can benefit from the sponsorship is the main thing enterprise really caring about after throwing big bucks and efforts, and it is also the focus of this study. We take the Acer as our targeted enterprise, and examine the sponsorship effect of two different sport events that Acer sponsor (We pretend that Acer sponsoring the 2010 World Cup). The data were collected through a questionnaire. This study totally sent out three hundreds and ten questionnaires, two hundreds and ninety-six questionnaires were received, two hundreds and seventy-nine of them were effective. The results suggest that when consumers have positive attitude toward the sport events, the enterprises can enhance the awareness through sponsoring the sport events. But it is uncertain whether the enterprise can enhance the image by sponsoring the sport events when consumers have positive attitude toward the sport events. The results also suggest that the consumers¡¦ perception of sponsor-event fit will affect the awareness and image. Moreover, the study indicate that both the awareness and image have significantly positive effects on purchase intention.